A few days
ago, on Sol 33, the Martian Rover "Opportunity" was
commanded to roll forward to begin intensive investigation of
a small section of the rocky outcrop, rimming this small
crater that it's been exploring in a region of Mars, called "Meridiani Planum," since
shortly after it landed there, January 25 th . The overall, few inches high
outcrop, which spans approximately 180 degrees of the crater's interior,
has been dubbed by the JPL Rover Team "Opportunity
Ledge." The specific section that Opportunity was ordered to investigate
last week is about in the middle of this outcrop (below), is approximately
ten inches high, and was named by the Team "El Capitan."

(Click
Images with Borders to Enlarge)

Preparatory to actually drilling into El Capitan
and making detailed composition measurements with the array of
sophisticated instruments on the Rover's "arm," Opportunity
was commanded to take a series of close-up Microscopic Images
of the untouched surface of the rock with the B&W CCD camera attached
to the arm. One of those images (1M131201699EFF0500P29933M2M1.jpg)
revealed an amazing sight (below):

A potential Martian fossil !

A close-up enlargement of this fascinating object (above  bottom), reveals
an apparently "snapped off" body geometry, at least five visible cylindrical "segments," and
a hint of other fossil-like features buried in the surrounding rock itself  all
classic hallmarks of a former living organism!

So, what did the JPL Rover science Team do with this potentially explosive
scientific find ?

They promptly ground it into powder right before
our eyes (PanCAm
color image, below)!

As the second Microscopic Image (1M131212854EFF0500P2959M2M1.jpg),
taken immediately after this grinding operation clearly shows
(below), rather than move the grinder (technically called the "Rock
Abrasion Tool"  RAT) a couple of inches to the left or right, the grinding
of the rock took place directly over this astonishing fossil-looking
object .

After we discovered and posted an initial version of this
remarkable series of events on "Enterprise" March 2, as might be expected
(for a website which received almost 40 million hits in January
alone) we began receiving e-mails from around the world -- from amateur
and professionals alike -- all pointing out an almost unbelievable resemblance
between "our" Martian fossil and a well-known terrestrial counterpart.

Quoting from one correspondent, James Calhoun:

I have been a collector of marine fossils for 34 years,
an amateur to be sure, but with years of field experience.
When I saw the "Fossil" pic [on "Enterprise"], it was clear to
me that it met a number of the basic criteria of fossilization.
RCH was correct in that "scale does not matter," as the physical
characteristics of the item are immediately apparent,
and it is sad that the MER team did not present a
professional paleontologist to comment. In that light,
I have heard a varied number of explanations as to
what type of fossil this could be, everything from a
segmented worm (annelid) to a shrimp (crustacean). I
would like you guys to consider that based on the symmetry
of the object, that it could be in fact an early Crinoid,
a filter feeding marine plant-like animal, a type with
a calcium carbonate exoskeleton (this is Earth-based
of course, the Martian exoskeleton [could] have been
of a differing mineral composition). I have included
a couple of pictures for symmetry and scale reference.
Notice the triangular symmetry in the "branch areas," not
to mention the segments, and also that the scale is inline
with the "size
of the blueberries." Your opinion would be most appreciated. Thanks
for your time and I appreciate the work the team does."

Mr. James C. Calhoun (Jim)
Lancaster, NY

The images Jim included with his e-mail "knocked our socks
off," as the saying goes.

Chosen from " A
Beginners Guide To Identifying Cincinnatian Crinoids, "by Jack Kallmeyer,
they clearly showed that the fossilized Martian "creature" we'd discovered
on this series of Opportunity's Microscopic Images
for Sol 33, shared an amazing number of specific characteristics
with one "Ordovician Crinoid
Retercrinus Alvealatus" (below).

Other mages Mr. Calhoun sent us revealed even further similarities
(below).

Among the many responses to our posting of this extraordinary
terrestrial fossil analog, was one from our long-time friend and colleague,
Ron Nicks. Ron, as you may remember, is one of our Enterprise consulting
geologists, who's written a number of thoughtful
analyses on prior NASA missions and results.

For several days prior to this, Ron and I had been arguing
back an forth via e-mail about the "Martian blueberries" that Jim Calhoun
alluded to  those curiously spherical, highly uniform "somethings" that
litter the Opportunity crater literally, in the millions .

As seen in this PanCam color image (below), not only are these
mysterious objects amazingly abundant and apparently contained within the
rocks (until released through slow erosion), in properly calibrated images
they are actually blue (contrary to the Rover Science Team Principal
Investigator Stephen Squyres' increasingly curious denials
at
NASA press conferences, "They're NOT blue " -- after it was he who originally
termed them "blueberries" ).

In fact, other than noting their great profusion and
color, the major mystery of "what are they, really?"  the most obvious "anomalous
features" of this entire Martian landscape -- had not been publicly
addressed directly by the Rover Science Team even after a full month
at Meridiani Planum.

Ron had been arguing that the "berries" were
also some kind of preserved life
form, specifically representative of a separate Class of marine
invertebrate animals (now extinct on Earth) called "blastoids." Fossilized blastoids (commonly
called "fossil Rose Buds" or "Hickory Nuts" in
the southeastern United States  where a lot of their fossils have been
found) at first glance resemble a hard fruit common to
many current trees. In fact, they are the partially petrified
remains of a marine organism which (like the Crinoids see below) stood
above the sea floor on a long, segmented "stem" and gathered
food from the surrounding currents with a waving set of tentacles (rarely
preserved) called "pinnules" (below).

One common blastoid form, because of its striking
five-sided symmetry (below), is called "Pentremites."

When Opportunity rolled up and took its first close
in PanCam color images of a feature of "Opportunity Ledge" called "Stone
Mountain" (below), the spacecraft was also commanded to acquire
Microscopic Images at the same time (inset).

Notice on the MI image (below), the series of extremely
thin, parallel, sedimentary layers in this rocky outcrop (1M129516156EFF0312P2933M2M1.jpg),
which also includes a couple of dangling "Martian blueberries," partially
exposed.

Ron, in examining the "blueberries" on several of
these and other close-ups, believed he'd spotted the tell tale, five-sided
signature of Pentremites!

In a carefully composited color version of this same image, created
by another Enterprise associate, Jill England, the details
of some "berries" become
clear. As
you enlarge the "berries," distinct hints of five-sided, geometric
surface features  eerily similar to fossilized terrestrial blastoids  finally
do appear (below).

Though eroded by unknown length
of exposure to the Martian winds and sands  which over time have
almost removed all surface markings and relief -- enough remains
to make some interesting comparisons .

Based on his paleontological experience, Ron had been
arguing for days that these tantalizing clues pointed to a fossil explanation
for the mysterious "blueberries"  as opposed to the strictly geological
explanations being officially advanced by the Rover Science Team.

While intrigued, I was not convinced .

Then

I found the fossil on the Sol 33 Rover MI image,
and posted it on Enterprise.
James Calhoun's highly provocative confirmatory e-mail
and images arrived. And, Ron wrote again:

Richard,

Remember my [earlier] e-mail regarding crinoid stems?
That is exactly what you are looking at in the "segments" that
you describe [on "Coast to Coast AM," and in the latest "Enterprise" posting].
A crinoid stem has the appearance of a stack of lifesavers.
In the same image, you can see what appears to be
the blastoids
or cystoids that top the stems. This deposit looks exactly like
much limestone in the Cincinatti, Ohio area.

Ron

What are the odds of two independent experts  who
have never met, let alone talked to one another on this subject!  separately
identifying this specific crinoid's fossil on a random Martian
image ... and then, the precise region on Earth where
it's counterpart is found?!

OK, what's a "Crinoid?"

A crinoid [sometimes called a "sea lily," because of its superficial appearance
to a spreading flower (below)] is, as James Calhoun described, "a filter
feeding, marine, plant-like animal ." Crinoids first appeared
in Earth's primeval seas over 500 million years ago, in the so-called "Cambrian
Era," climbing to dominance over the next 150 million years, before receding
once again in the terrestrial fossil record.

UCLA's "astrobiology" website features
several Crinoid reconstructions through geological time,
some (below) carefully detailing their various components.

The section of our fossilized Martian equivalent -- apparently
captured in the Opportunity Microscopic Image from Sol 33 -- was the
base of the "cup" and a small portion of one segmented "arm" (compare
above and below). The other arms, which were used to gather food from
the underwater ocean currents when the organism was alive, apparently
had eroded away (or been blasted away by the creation of this Martian
crater) long before NASA's Opportunity Rover landed in the crater and
took the specific image .

* * *

The mysteries presented by this astonishing discovery
are far too complex to even begin to explore in any depth here. But a
few questions seem in order .

Given that this is real, that all of us now who have independently looked
at this, and come to the same conclusion -- that this could in
fact be a genuine Martian fossil at Maridiani Planum -- are not delusional what
could it mean?

A few days after the acquisition of this remarkable
image, NASA held a sudden "water
press conference" in Washington DC. There they announced, with
much fanfare, that Opportunity had discovered  via its analytical equipment,
measuring the chemistry of the outcrop -- that the site
it was exploring once " was
soaking wet in the past." While refraining from also claiming that "Opportunity
Ledge's" layers of sediments had been laid down in actual liquid water,
they came very close and hinted that this confirmation could come "as
early as a few days."

So, what do we have here?

Crinoids lived in ocean water  ranging from a few
feet deep to several miles  anchoring
their stems on the ocean floor and feeding on whatever nutrients drifted
by. If you look at a combined map of where JPL landed
its two Rovers, and the Odyssey GRS orbital determination of water
abundance in the upper one meter of Martian soil, a glance will
suffice to show the Rovers are indeed exploring none other than
the shallows of our two
proposed equatorial Martian tidal oceans (below)! Almost as if that had
been planned .

It takes almost no imagination (so, even the current Rover
Team might handle it ) to picture this site several million years ago (below)
-- a quiet tidal pool, filled with gently waving creatures of the sea until
one day, something extraordinary happened and this pool and all of Mars forever
changed.

The fact that our small Martian creature seems identical to
the Crinoids which once dominated Earth's terrestrial oceans is astounding.
That fact alone  if it is a fact  means that something is radically wrong
with our current view of biological, if not planetary, evolution. Verifying
that simple fact would seem now to be the highest priority for a space program
about to undertake significant new challenges including multi-generational planning
for human flights to Mars.

It is so easy to invoke the idea of "parallel evolution"
to explain this astonishing development. But is such
a concept  especially
on two totally different planets, with totally differing
environments and histories -- even plausible science
fiction let alone
scientific fact? Could not one just as easily invoke
the intervention of an "outside
agency"  including a Creator -- to explain the appearance, on these
two separate worlds, of a species essentially identical in function
and in form ?

And, if that can be done here, where does invocation of such
an "outside intervention" end? With the appearance of the Face on Mars
itself ?

The idea of landing a robot (essentially at random) on
an alien planet only to discover an ancient form of terrestrial life
(maybe two  if the "blueberries" turn out to be Ron's blastoids!), so
immediately recognizable that literally dozens of observers on this planet  amateurs
and experts alike  have now independently identified it, raises profound
philosophical and scientific questions to which we now desperately
need real scientific answers.

Unfortunately, if we expect our own Space Agency to publicly
address  let alone answer  any of them based on NASA's current
actions vis a vis this fossil we may be waiting a very long,
long time .

* * *

One final mystery:

In 2000, Geoffrey Landis  a NASA scientist attached to
the NASA-Glenn Research Center, in Ohio  wrote his first Mars science
fiction novel, " Mars
Crossing ."

In 1997, Landis had
been a Principal Investigator for one experiment on the highly successful
first unmanned Mars Pathfinder Sojourner
rover mission to the outflow of an ancient water channel, Ares Vallis.
As a result, his "Mars" in the new novel was highly praised, by both
veteran science fiction writers and planetary scientists alike, as "totally
authentic." One wrote:

"High-quality hard SF written with the authenticity of
a NASA insider Landis has given us a legend of our own near future ."

Geoffrey Landis is also now a member of the current
JPL Rover Science Team, a member of the "atmospheric group." Which
makes what he did in his novel four ago, very interesting
... to say the least.

Three quarters through his novel, Landis has one of
his characters, Brandon Weber, get lost in the arid
Martian desolation of endless dunes and dust. Tired
and scared, the astronaut finally climbs a small butte to get his bearings and
makes a startling, serendipitous discovery .

There was a fracture line running down
the middle of the butte; one half of it was two feet higher
than the other. It made a natural seat. Without any sense
of wonder, without even a sense of irony, he reached out
and touched it. Embedded in the layered sandstone exposed
by the crack, it held a perfectly preserved fossil. It
looked like a cluster of shiny black
hoses, clumped together at the bottom, branching out into a dozen
tentacles at the top. In the same section of rock, he could
see others, of every size from tiny ones to one three feet
long. There were other fossils too, smaller ones in different
shapes, a bewildering variety.

"I name you Mars Life Brandonii," he
said.

How did Landis -- a Pathfinder and MER Rover Mission
NASA scientist -- somehow know ... four years ago?!